NCHH Supports
Healthy Homes for All

NCHH and APHA Release the National Healthy Housing Standard

The American Public Health Association (APHA) and the National Center for Healthy Housing (NCHH) released a new national healthy housing standard in May. The National Healthy Housing Standard defines livable housing conditions and targets the 30 million U.S. families who live in unsafe residences. It is intended to be used by government agencies and property owners to ensure that the nation's housing stock is adequately maintained and protects the health and safety of residents.

 

The National Healthy Housing Standard identifies hazardous living conditions and offers safety protections to address these problems, with recommendations for household systems, including:

  • plumbing;
  • lighting and electricity;
  • heating, ventilation, and energy efficiency;
  • moisture and mold control;
  • pest management; and
  • chemicals, such as radon, lead, formaldehyde, and asbestos.

"While we have made great strides in improving the quality of housing nationwide, too many Americans are left making the false choice between affordable or quality housing. Families deserve access to quality and affordable housing that allows them to put down roots in a community, build wealth, put kids through college, and start businesses," explained then-HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. "The National Healthy Housing Standard represents a needed step in improving housing conditions for all of our nation's citizens, regardless of their ZIP code. This standard can serve as a model that housing and development officials can adopt to keep families safe in the home."


"The development of this health-based standard is just the first step," said Rebecca Morley, Executive Director of the National Center for Healthy Housing. "The most important work of seeking its adoption by federal, state, and local agencies is a heavy lift and will require the help and involvement of a wide array of partners."

 

Read the full Standard.
Read the press release.  

Join Us! Become involved in the National Safe and Healthy Housing Coalition.  
Other Policy Updates

The Senate Labor HHS Subcommittee's FY15 report language, released in July, contains $20.5 million for the CDC Healthy Homes-Lead Branch, up from $15 million in FY14. The language paves the way toward full restoration of the program.
Healthy Housing News

Update on Baltimore Rail Intermodal Health Impact Assessment
State pulls $30 million from rail facility project in major victory for community activists!
Read more.

Omaha Healthy Kids Alliance
Partnership leads to healthier, energy-efficient homes. Read more.
Updates
The National Center for Healthy Housing thanks you for joining us in Nashville for the 2014 National Healthy Homes Conference (NHHC). This leading interdisciplinary event brought together health, housing, and other professionals dedicated to improving the lives and homes of America's families and communities. Click here for highlights from this event.
Inside NCHH

Remembering Nick Farr
Nick Farr, founder and original Executive Director of the National Center for Healthy Housing, was laid to rest this spring. The following tribute is by his longtime friend and colleague, Dr. David E. Jacobs, Research Director for NCHH.

Nick embodied all the values and aspirations that make the Center so important in the life of the nation. He had an insistence on rigor, a demand to base what should be done to solve a problem on fact. He never stopped moving forward. He was a student of life, devouring every book and paper put in front of him. He had leading positions in government, finance, advocacy, academia, nonprofit housing, health, foreign policy, and so much more. He meddled in science and invited others like me to meddle in his own field of law, and out of all that meddling came products that truly mattered. He devoted much of his life to the poor, to making government serve them, and to an unwavering sense of justice. He meant so much to me, someone who took me in at a low point (the famous basement times), who demonstrated love, who valued nature (we did more than a few hikes and bike trips together), who treasured knowledge - he was a voracious reader (he read one of Sherry Dixon's statistics textbooks in a single night, although he admitted that he did not quite understand it all). He always said what he thought and spoke truth to power. He was the master of the non-operational hearing aid, a weakness he turned to a strength. He took chances and learned from failure.

He was a husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and most of all a friend who will be missed but never forgotten. His was a life well lived and one to be celebrated.

Rebecca Morley Selected for NeighborWorks Achieving Excellence Program
NeighborWorks America and NCHH are proud to announce that Rebecca Morley, NCHH's Executive Director, is one of 50 leaders selected for the NeighborWorks� Achieving Excellence in Community Development Program, conducted in collaboration with Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.

The only comprehensive, intensive training of its kind, Achieving Excellence  includes three formal sessions at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, as well as executive coaching, intensive peer learning, and guidance from author and consultant Douglas K. Smith. The first session at Harvard University will take place in October 2014, with additional sessions planned for February and October 2015, and with a final session and graduation in February 2016. Between academic sessions, participants will be actively working on the challenge critical to their organization's success and will be working closely with their executive coach and peer group.

"The Achieving Excellence Program equips leaders to increase the community impact of the work they do," explained Chuck Wehrwein, acting President and Chief Executive Officer of NeighborWorks America. "It goes way beyond the typical training course to focus intensively on systemic, long-term change."

Read the full press release here.
Upcoming Events

Ohio Healthy Homes Summit
The Ohio Healthy Homes Summit on September 30, 2014 in Columbus, Ohio will offer presentations from well-known speakers in the national and state healthy homes field as well as facilitated afternoon strategy sessions to move Ohio forward in the areas of healthy housing standards, asthma home interventions, and collaborations. Key speakers include Jane Malone, NCHH Policy Director; Stacey Chacker, Director of the Asthma Regional Council of New England; Robert Cole, Esquire, Group Leader, Education and Children's Environmental Health Practice Group, Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Toledo; and Marcia Dinkins, Executive Director, Toledoans United for Social Action. A panel of state housing and health agency officials will provide commentary on the presentations.

USGBC's Greenbuild 2014
USGBC's Greenbuild 2014 convenes a broad spectrum of people working to advance sustainability through community development and affordable housing. Through networking, knowledge sharing, and problem solving, we will focus on the singular goal of expediting the economic, social, and ecological health of underserved communities. Connect with movers and shakers on the common ground of making better places to live, work, learn, and play.

NCHH invites you to register for the Affordable Homes and Sustainable Communities Summit at Greenbuild. Rebecca Morley is a featured panelist at the Healthy Housing Roundtable.

Greenbuild New Orleans at the Morial Convention Center
Tuesday, October 21, 2014, 9:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m.

From inclusive community engagement to healthy homes, the Summit's solutions-oriented breakout sessions highlight successful case studies and practical tools, while facilitating dialogue among unlikely suspects. The dynamic program was thoughtfully crafted by a diverse group of advisors with the goal of advancing toward common sustainability goals across the wide range of individual buildings to the broader community scale. 

Click here for the top five reasons YOU should attend the Affordable Homes and Sustainable Communities Summit. Limited scholarships for the Summit are available!

2014 Urban Land Institute Fall Meeting
The ULI Fall Meeting attracts more than 7,000 attendees annually. It is the only event that brings together EVERY sector of the real estate industry in one place. By attending, you build relationships with developers, investors, architects, planners, brokers, academics, attorneys, decision-makers, and government - and get the cutting-edge information you need to build your business. The conference will take place at Javits Center, New York City, on October 21-23, 2014.

Learn more and register.

APHA's 142nd Annual Meeting and Exposition
APHA's Annual Meeting and Exposition serves as the home for public health professionals to convene, learn, network, and engage with peers. With the annual meeting, we strengthen the profession of public health, share the latest research and information, promote best practices, and advocate for public health issues and policies grounded in research. Come experience APHA on November 15-19, 2014 in New Orleans.

Rebecca Morley will present in two sessions:
  • Session 3351.0: "Children's Environmental Health: Protecting the Next Generation," scheduled for Monday, November 17, 2014: 2:30 p.m.-4:00 PM, and
  • Session 4277.0: "Improving Health through Built Environments and Healthy Communities," scheduled for Tuesday, November 18, 2014: 2:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m.
The NYC Healthy Homes Summit
Convened by WE ACT for Environmental Justice, Milano School of International Affairs, Management and Urban Policy, and Columbia's NIEHS Center for Environmental Health in Northern Manhattan, the NYC Healthy Homes Summit is a two-day event, November 21-22, 2014, that will provide an opportunity for scientists, policymakers, advocates, and community members to share knowledge and develop a policy platform to sustain, preserve, and create healthy housing for low- and middle-income New Yorkers that is safe, affordable, and energy-efficient.

The primary goals of the summit are to launch the "WE ACT for Healthy Homes" campaign; to engage scientists, policy advocates, government agencies, community-based organizations, and people with health conditions related to poor indoor environmental conditions to advance science, policy, and organizing around indoor environmental health issues; and to raise awareness of adverse health outcomes associated with poor indoor housing environment.

The event is co-sponsored in formation by Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. and LISC New York City and will be held at the Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Policy, 66 West 12th Street, New York, NY 10011. Registration is $40 for current WE ACT members, $65 for new WE ACT members ($25.00 WE ACT membership fee + $40.00 member fee), or $125 for individuals.
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